Scott here to talk about today. November 8, 2023, we left Bay Bridge – 2 anchorage in Choctawhatchee Bay near the bridge for US 331. Good spot to anchor. Nice park with a boat ramp under the bridge to take Jazzy for her walks. This morning it was foggy again, so that pushed back our start time. We also had a planned fuel stop in today. That is a first for us. Usually, we get fuel and a pump-out when we arrive or leave a marina. I planned an hour for our fueling stop and we were there for 61 minutes.

We stopped at St. Andrews Maraina, which since a hurricane only provides fuel. No one there to help, just do it ourselves for the fuel and pump-out. They have three docks for fuel and they are made for boats about 25′ or smaller. We succeeded in getting fuel, getting rid of our poop, and getting more H2O. We may or may not have bought ice cream and enjoyed that when we were all done before we left!

How did the planning go?

Plan v ACTUAL
Start at: 7:00 am ACTUAL 8:00 am
End at: 2:30 pm ACTUAL 3:09 PM
Total Time: 6:26 hours ACTUAL 7:14 hours
Distance: 58.0 miles 57.4 miles

Good enough in my book!

Fuel. We put in 109.515 gallons of diesel in the ‘Ol Girl today. The fuel was $4.30 per gallon plus 7% tax for a total of $503.87. Since the last fill-up, in Mobile, we ran the engines 42.1 hours and went 180.6 miles. The equates to 2.6 gallons per hour and 1.6 miles per gallon. I have done better. I have realized as the day goes on I tend to bump up the speed as I am getting tired of driving. Although Rita is driving a lot more giving me more and more breaks.

We will have only two days on the next fill-up in Carabelle. Then we will fill-up in Clearwater after our crossing.

Here is a quick video of one of the last locks on the Tenn-Tom Waterway. Just wanted to share it.